BOULDER -- Boulder County government department heads aren't seeking to cover the full cost of repairing flood-related damages to county properties in next year's budget, according to presentations to the Board of County Commissioners on Thursday.

The county Transportation Department, for example, has estimated it will cost $100 million to repair or replace the roads, bridges, culverts and other transportation structures damaged.

Transportation director George Gerstle told commissioners, however, that he's requesting only $24 million to $26 million from Boulder County's 2014 budget to pay for some of his department's flood-related spending needs.

The county Parks and Open Space Department has estimated that flood damage to the reservoirs, irrigation systems, stream channels, trails, buildings, roads, parking lots and other facilities on county-owned open space lands total more than $52 million, department director Ron Stewart told the board.

Stewart's department is only proposing earmarking $22.2 million toward those repairs from next year's budget.

Gerstle's and Stewart's presentations were among several that Commissioners Cindy Domenico, Elise Jones and Deb Gardner heard Thursday as they devoted much of the day to reviewing proposals for flood-impacts spending in 2014.

Boulder County officials hope federal and state money will be available to reimburse the county for of the cost of repairing or replacing the infrastructure, but the county first will have to tap reserves and other available budget accounts to start spending its own funds on such projects.

Until the county gets those federal and state payments, "it's a huge cash flow problem," said budget director Margaret Parish.

Commissioners also heard proposals to add the equivalent of as many as 30 employees to the county staff, with many of those positions intended to help Boulder County families and property owners who were flood victims.

Boulder County Public Health, for example, is seeking additional staffers to work with property owners to ensure the safety of their wells and septic systems before they return to or rebuild their homes. The Land Use Department is proposing adding personnel to review homeowners' redevelopment proposals to ensure the new or renovated residences are in safe locations or that potential hazards can be mitigated.

No one from the general public spoke at Thursday's hearings.

The commissioners and several of the department heads cautioned that recovery from the September flooding catastrophe will be a process that's likely to take years, and will have annual budget impacts until it's completed.

Jones said that in such flood-stricken communities as Lyons and Jamestown, "the new normal has yet to feel normal."

County government will have an important role in Boulder County residents' own flood recovery, Jones said: "We are all in it together, and we're there to support each other."

Gardner said that whatever money can be found to include in the 2014 county budget, "the one thing we know is, it's not enough."

Gardner said that for Boulder County's communities, its families and its county government, "this will be long, it will be hard, it will be expensive. But we will end up in a better place than we were before."

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